Tarnish
by EvenWhenTheMusic'sGone
Summary: I suck at summaries: This is a mix between the Hunger Games and Mortal Instruments. It starts out like Mortal instruments, but takes a Hunger Games turn. WARNING: No characters from either book are in here, and some aspects are changed. Give it a chance!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my first fanfic, so criticize away! I've been working on this one for a while, but you guys are the first to read it! Just a little heads up: None of the hunger games or mortal instrument characters are in here. It's like the story, with a few modifications. If you're like me, you'll just skip the intro, but I wanted to let you know. Bye!**

Starting over sucks. Just saying. Especially when you're moving to some creepy house with a thousand rooms and doors that lead to nowhere. "Let's go Embry! I want to get there before the sun goes down!" screams my older sister Hayden. "So do I! I don't like going to freaky places at night!" I carry my box downstairs. "You'll love it there. Grace Village. Maybe you'll meet a cute guy. You're just lucky mom's not coming with." She kicks the door open with her foot. "Lets load." We throw boxes into the car. "Maybe I would be enjoying this more if I knew why we were going." She rolls her eyes. "Don't be bitter. It's just that mom's friend's moving in and that guy gives me the creeps." I suddenly feel the urge to throw everything in the car at once. "Well then lets hurry!" I exclaim. Hayden just laughs and shakes her head.

I look out my slightly snowy window on the way to Grace Village. I hug my knees to my chest. "Hayden. I. will. freeze. to. death. Put the heater on!" She purses her lips. "That's as high as it'll go, I'm not a heat angel, okay." I look past the snow. "I swear I just saw a house on stilts with an outhouse next to it." She giggles and does her sitting down happy dance. "You have to love it." I smile just a little bit. "Now listen. If a boy asks you out you say yes, unless they're a creeper or not around the age of 16. If a boy talks to you, you listen. If anyone's friendly be friendly back." I laugh. "You sound the exact opposite of mom. If a boy asks you out say no. If a boy talks to you, try to get away. If a stranger talks to you, walk away."

She pulls up into the driveway of a fairly pretty house. I still know about the many rooms and doors though. One of the neighbors jogs over to us. "Hi, I'm Seth Lanquish, nice to meet you." He extends out his hand. I shake it. "I'm Embry Patel. That's my sister Hayden." He shakes hands with her. "Need help with unpacking?" he asks. Hayden shakes her head. "The moving guys will take care of that, you two just get to know each other." Seth shrugs. "We could walk." I accept his invitation.

"How old are you?"

"15. I'm turning sixteen next week."

"I'm 16. Are you going to school here? Where are you from?"

"Ensorcell Brooke. It's pretty far. My sister says that this year, since I'm already ahead one year, we'll just focus on the moving part. Are you originally from here? Where are you from?"

"It's too far. You've probably never heard of it." I don't push him for an answer. "I like you. You're not like those overcomplicated girls that takes offense to everything I say." I shrug. I guess I'm easy like that. "Do you want to go to Scrap tonight? Just to get to know each other. It's a restaurant slash lounge slash club. Pretty awesome. It's not really my type of venue, but I'll manage. They make really good food." I know Hayden would kill me if I said no. "I might just have to take you up on that." He smiles. "Good. We'll walk there at 9, kay?" I nod. "Sure."

I help Hayden finish unpacking our stuff. "What'd he say?" I take the clothes out of the box and put them into the drawers. "Nothing really. He just wanted to get to know me better, thats all. He invited me to dinner at 9, just as friends though. He's friendly but not looking for a relationship. I'm not either so we're good then." She pouts. "That's too bad. He was kinda cute. He had the dark brown hair, and brown eyes, and-" I can't listen to this. "And three years younger than you." She rolls her eyes. "You did accept his offer though, right? I want you to make some new friends." I nod. "Of course. Plus, I wont be the one left alone to unpack so ha!"

I unpack more things: hangers, plates, clothes, keeping an eye on the clock waiting for the hand to strike nine. The faster I'm out of this house, the better. As soon as the 9 is touched, I run over to Hayden, give her a kiss on the cheek and bolt out the door. Seth waits outside. I almost knock him over. "Hey. In a rush or something?" I catch my breath before speaking. "I just needed a break from that house."

It's a 5 minute walk from our houses to Scrap. The first thing that makes me spot it is the pulsating music. The flashing lights come soon after. "Exactly how is this a lounge?" I ask Seth. "They sell coffee, tea, and hot cocoa. Plus they have those lounge seats too. I said it was a lounge and a club. I didn't think it was that important to tell you that the club part dominated over the lounge." I laugh and let him drag me in.

We sit on some lounge chairs in the corner of the room where the entire building is visible. While he's talking on about his favorite band, I look around the room. There's lots of people dancing, tons drinking out of their senses. Something flashes in the opposite corner of the room, blinding me for a split second. A dagger. Seth taps me. "Do you want to go to the other side of the room? It's a little drafty over here don't you think?" What should I say? No, not now, I'm watching some dark haired guy holding a dagger with a blond guy next to him follow a girl and a boy into the janitor's closet? I scan Seth up and down. He has a jacket, he's just not wearing it. "Why don't you put on your jacket first?" He slips it on, but keeps trying to find what I'm looking at. "What would you say if I told you someone in here had a knife?" He looks at me like I'm crazy. "You see that?" Okay, that wasn't the answer I was expecting. I stand up. "Hey, wait! Where are you going?" I pick up my jacket and start walking, but Seth grabs my wrist. "Don't do anything stupid. They could be dangerous." He lets go of me, obviously thinking that I'll actually stay because of that. "You don't think I realize that? Trust me, they'll be too preoccupied trying to kill that kid."

I weave my way through the crowds, achieving dirty looks from the people that I bump into. Seth follows me, but keeps on getting obstructed by someone so he's always a step behind me.

"Curiosity killed the cat!"

"You have a cat?"

"No."

"Neither do I, so what cat was killed?" I continue through the crowd. "Lets just leave it alone!" he calls after me. "Although I must say, I admire you're bravery." I'd wait for him, but they're just about entering the janitor closet. "Thank you." Seth reaches me just as I follow them in. He pushes me back against a wall so that I'm behind cleansing supplies, obstructing their view from me.

"What's your name?" The boy they followed in here asks. "Aubrey." She has silky read hair and tawny eyes. She has the perfect body shape, plus she's tall. I could see why this guy was so hypnotized by her. He smiles, but it soon fades and his eyes darken. "Aidan!" She yells. The dark haired boy with the dagger lunges at him and chains him to some manacles I didn't see on the wall earlier. "Kill the damn thing already Tanner!" Aubrey screams at the blond haired boy. "Aidan has the freaking knife, what am I supposed to do?" That's enough for my likings. "Wait! You can't kill a person! It's cruel and inhumane!" They look at me like I'm some fascinating creature or something. Tanner's eyes widen when he see's me. "Aubrey, did you forget to put our invisible ink on? _Again_?" She shakes her head. "No, remember, I stabbed you with it when you got out of the shower?" Seth emerges from the wall. "Seth?" Aidan asks. "Yeah. I was just showing her this place cause she's new here, and she's just a ball of headstrong. I tried stopping her, but she insisted. I've missed working with you. Who's that?" He says pointing at Aubrey. She rolls her eyes. "_That, _is the girl that replaced your sorry ass when you got kicked out. Aubrey."

Aidan whacks Tanner and Aubrey. "Guys, we have business here. We'll deal with _her_ later." Tanner turns to me, his emerald eyes piercing through me. "It is _inhumane_ to kill a _person. _Luckily, we're not human. Neither is this _thing." _The claws grow out of the boys fingers and slash out at him, scratching his arm. "Damn it! Aidan, give me the dagger already!" Aidan scrambles for the dagger while Tanner continues talking to me. "This is the part where the damsel in distress closes her eyes and let's the hero do all the dirty work." I watch as he plunges the dagger into the chest of the creature. Poof! The creature vanishes into thin air. Dark blue liquid spills everywhere and ash floats around in the air.

Everyone's silent for a couple of moments, but me and Tanner keep glaring at each other. "Meanwhile, we learn the damsel can stomach that, and the only thing in distress is the 'hero's' arm." Aubrey laughs and claps her hands together. "I like her. Finally someone doesn't fall head over heels for that womanizing asshat." Tanner shoots her a look. "Asshat, really? Who uses that?" I grab a sponge off the rack and make my way towards him. Tanner holds the sloppy knife up to my neck. "Relax. It's just a sponge." He slowly backs the knife away, and I wipe his arm with the sponge. "There. All better." He stares at me like he's trying to comprehend what I just did.

"S-so, what are we going to do with her?" he asks. Aubrey laughs again. "Dude. Calm down. She's a human." Aidan eyes me up and down. "Kill her." He makes his way toward me. "I should be going," I announce. "Stop!" Tanner yells. I'm about to turn the door handle, but he grabs me by my waist and pulls me towards him. "You cant kill her. She can see us! Maybe she's not a human." Aubrey grabs Tanner's arm. "Don't touch her too long." He gives her a questioning look before an incredible feeling warmth spreads through me, pulsating to the very tips of my fingertips. My legs falter and I fall to the ground. Tanner tries to hide his laughter, while Aubrey just stands behind him, arms crossed and rolling her eyes. "Don't torture her with it!" He releases his laughter. "Tell me that's not funny and you wouldn't do it if you could." A smile spreads across her face. "Just don't do that too much. Reese says it has dangerously pleasureful effects." He touches her shortly. "Damn that does feels good." He nods. "I know right." I slap his leg. "If you caused this, you can help me up."

Tanner pulls me up. Aubrey smiles. "We could just ink her. The other tarnishers will think she's one of us and ignore her." Aidan picks at his cuticle. "Demons will also think she's a tarnisher. My dear, dear sister. Sometimes you should consider thinking your plans out." She punches him in the arm. "Then we'll be on call. She'll just call one of us when theres a demon." Tanner shakes his head. "Aubrey, we're not 1-800-tarnishers. Either way, what if she can't get to a phone if she's being attacked? Let's just ink her, and one of us will keep an eye on her for the next few days. If it's unsafe then we'll just take her back home with us and just not tell The System or The Board." I tap them. "Doesn't this seem kind of ridiculous? I have no idea what you just killed. I have no idea what you guys are. I have no idea what you're talking about. You were going to kill and you don't even know my name." Aubrey's the first to acknowledge it. "Fine. I'm Aubrey, that's Aidan, and that's Tanner. You'll figure out what I'm talking about. What's your name?" I cross my arms. "Embry Patel." I curtsy a little bit. "It's a pleasure almost dying because of you." Tanner repeats my name like he's getting a feel for it. "Embry. Embry. Cool name." I thank him. "What's ink? Well I know what ink is, but not the kind you're talking about."

Aubrey lifts her jeans, Tanner lifts his sleeve, and Aidan lifts his shirt. I shield my eyes. "I asked what ink was, not for a strip show!" I can almost sense Tanner's glare at me. "We're showing you think ink stupid!" I turn to look. Something that looks like a tattoo is marked on each of them. Aubrey's is marked around her ankle. It looks like a ring of thorns. Tanner's are several marks going down his shoulder. Aidan's is on his upper back, a simple straight black line through linked together circles. They're all dark, but they seem to glow and shimmer. It fades in and fades out.

I sit on the desk in the corner of the room. "Fine, but I don't want you to do it." I point at Aidan. "Wouldn't dream of it." Tanner takes a tube like thing with dark liquid out of his pocket. It has a needle at the end. He waits for me to calm down slightly. I close my eyes right before he sticks it into my wrist, but I never feel it go in. I open my eyes and see Aubrey shove Tanner over. "You get to kill the demon, I get to ink her." She's not as gentle as Tanner was and doesn't even give me a second to think. She plunges the needle into my arm, and I clutch onto the table to attempt to get rid of the pain. Tanner mocks me. "Meanwhile, we learn the damsel can't take a needle and that Aubrey, the hero's friend is a bitch." I pucker. "How do you put up with him?" Aubrey glances at him. "He's so rude and arrogant that it makes him so desirable and tempting. I don't like him though, that ass."

She takes the needle out of my arm. They, and everything else related vanish like they were never there at all. "Seth? Did that just happen?" He shrugs. "Let your wrist tell you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hola! Short chapter so imma keep this one short. I'm not a comment beggat, but they make me happy! If you don't have an account you may write them! P.S. Who else hates spell check on their iPod? i was trying to write short & it changed it to shit. Au Revoir!**

I look at my wrist in the moonlight. I can't sleep without having dreams about what happened. And this little marking will haunt me about it forever. The ink looks like a vine wrapped around my wrist, with leaf like things extending out of it. It's a good thing it's winter so I can use sweaters and jackets to hide it from Hayden. I finally give in to my sleepiness. No nightmare is worth getting this little sleep.

The next morning, the phone rings me awake. _Bring! _I flop my hand around on the nightstand, searching for my cellphone without looking.

"Hello? You do realize it's 6 AM in the morning! Who are you?"

"It's Aidan."

"How did _you _get my number?"

"I didn't. The most awesome guy in the world did, Seth!"

"SETH, I WILL KILL YOU!" He laughs.

"No you won't. Are you still freaking out about last night?"

"No, I just woke up 5 times because of nightmares. One where the dark haired guy killed me. One where the red head killed me. One where the blondy killed me. One where the creature thing killed me. One wasn't a nightmare, but when I woke up it was. It was that I never met any of them and I never got this stupid mark."

"You wanna meet me at the park across the street? I'll buy you ice cream. Think of it as an apology for brining you there last night. And being almost killed by Aidan. And being tormented and mocked by Tanner. And being stabbed with a needle by Aubrey. There was a lot of problems with last night."

"You forgot and witnessing the murder of an unknown creature."

"Be at the park at 10 okay?"

"Whatever you say." I hang up. Was I that affected by last night? I don't even know why I'm wondering. Yes, Yes I most definitely am.

I walk into the living room. At least we got done unpacking. All the boxes are in the backyard now. I make myself some toast, just something to have in my stomach and wait for Hayden on the couch. She comes around the corner and walks directly at me. "Embry, I want you to tell people that that's a tattoo." I look at her like she's crazy. "How do you know-" She doesn't allow me to finish. "They killed dad." This would make for a perfect spit take if I was drinking something. "Wait why?" She crosses her arms. "A stupid rule that he couldn't marry a human. He did, and when mom was pregnant with you, they found out, So they turned us all human." I want to kill Aidan, and Aubry, and Tanner. "They killed him?" She nods. "The Board's cruel sometimes." The board?

"I'm gonna go. I don't know when I'm coming back, so feel free to do things!" I'm about to run outside, but Hayden grabs my hand. "Change first. You look like a mess." I walk to my room. "How cold is it!" I ask her. "I don't know? 50 degrees!" I pull on my pink sweater and put on some black jeans. "Where are my shoes?" I yell to Hayden. "I don't know! Maybe you didn't pack any! Just wear my old boots!" I put on her brown leather boots and pull my hair back into a ponytail and get to Seth's house as fast as possible.

I frantically knock on Seth's door. "Seth!" He opens the door slightly. "Calm down. My parents are still asleep. I'll be back, hold on." He closes the door, and comes back out, hair disheveled and glasses askew. "Something happen in there?" He pats his hair down. "No. I was just in my PJs." He steps outside and closes the door behind him. "Is there a problem? Are you gonna bail on me later or something?" I shake my head. "I thought we could go now. I'm kinda in the mood for talking."

We walk around the lake in the park slowly. "How did you know those people?" He gives me a questioning look. "The ones that tried to kill you?" I nod. "I used to be a tarnisher," Seth explains. "What's a tarnisher?" Since I've moved here, I feel like I'm speaking a different language than everyone else. "Tarnishers are pretty much warriors. They fight against 'supernatural' creatures. I was kicked out because I brought a human home with me. Reese had him killed on the spot. We're all half angel, half human. It's kinda a confusing process. Anything else bugging you?" I shake my head. "No, I'm still trying to comprehend what you just said. Wait. New question formed. How are they going to 'watch' me?" He stops walking. "It's all in the wrist. They marked you in a rare spot. They don't like their marks in plain view. They'll know where you are because of that mark. They'll probably do something about it if a demon attacks you. I wouldn't worry about it, they know what they're doing. They're the best our age." I'm overcome with absolute fear. "A demon could attack me? These really are the best? A girl who sadistically stabbed me with a needle. A guy who wanted to kill me without a send thought. A guy who held a knife to my throat because I was cleaning his blood. They're going to protect me?" Seth tries convincing me I'll be fine. "In Aidan's defense, you did see something no one has seen for 1,000 years. In Tanner's defense, he's not used to that sorta thing. I mean, girls fall at his feet and jump all over him, but they usually don't aggravate him then wipe his blood off. In Aubrey's defense, she did choose to mark you instead of killing you, so you might not die. She may've saved your life. You'll be fine." I just won't think about it.

Seth tries changing the subject. It's clear that he's as disturbed talking about it as I am wondering about it. "So, there's this guy that goes to my school, and we've talked since around third grade. We're not the best of friends, but still pretty close. He has this band and I kinda promised him that I'd come at six. He wants me to bring someone, so I just thought you would want to come." I nod. "I'm good with it, just as long as there aren't anymore creatures there." He smiles. "Okay. See you then."

Hayden lifts boxes into the house. "You could help you know." I stand up. "What are you doing?" She drops the box into another one. "Organizing. We're gonna throw them away, but I don't want them to clutter up in the front of the house." I grab a box and place it into another. "You got anymore plans tonight?" I nod. "Yeah, at 6." She shoves the stack out the door. "Not me. I'm experiencing being a couch potato for the first time in my life. Smart right?" I look outside at the boxes in the backyard. Did they just move? I shrug it off. I'm still losing it from last night. "I'm going upstairs. I need a break. Be down in ten."

I wait for her to get to the very top of the stairs before I bolt outside. I rummage through the boxes, but I'm not very clear on what I'm looking for. "You're not gonna see the band in that." Aubrey says. She's sitting on one of the lawn chairs looking through a magazine, drinking some soda. "What if there's a cute boy at the club? Seriously? Lets go, I'm gonna get you dressed. You're lucky I would not allow Tanner come, otherwise you'd be wearing that and as embarrassed as hell." She stands up. This can't be good. She's wearing a tank top and a vest with boots that go all the way up to her thighs. Not my style.

She leads me to my own bedroom and rummages through my closet. "If it were up to me, I would've burned everything in here by now." I cringe when she comes to my dress box. I keep all my dresses in there because I don't like wearing dresses. "Why don't you wear these?" she asks. "Because I hate dresses." She rolls her eyes. "And this box under it?" She picks up the shirt at the top of that box. "They're expensive or from my dad. He bought them for when I was older I guess." She lays the shirt down gently on my bed. "Did you ever think that you'd one day grow out of these and never get to wear them like your dad wanted you to?" I shake my head. She throws the shirt at me. "Well then get it on!"

I put the shirt on over my red under shirt. It's a simple knit jumper with a sparkly red heart on the front. Back then, this must of cost my dad a fortune. We were poor until he died, so mom and Hayden started taking over the family at 12. You could say I was let off easy. I walk back out. She tosses me a red beanie and a pair of gray oxfords. "I see you've found the shoe bin. I only have two pairs you know. These and boots." I put them on anyways. She brushes my barely light brown hair. "You have lucky hair. Mine's so straight it's dull. Your's always looks like you use a curling iron, you know like those long spiral curls, but they're not. That's how perfect they are." I'd thank her, but judging from what I've seen from her, she'd slap me.


End file.
